All right, real quick, back to Duke. Last night in Blacksburg as the Blue Devils won at a place they hadn't won in their last two trips up there. Virginia Tech A is good and playing up at the castle is always difficult.
Had been for the last couple of seasons anyway for the Blue Devils. But that was a good game in spite of foul trouble, although they did shoot it very well. Steve Wiseman for the NNO was there.
Just your impressions of what it looked like from up close. It looked like a physical game and there were a lot of fouls called. Did they get paid by the whistle, by the offensive foul?
What was that? Well, you know, Teddy Valentine likes to be on TV, right? I saw him. Yeah, yeah, so that's what we're doing on TV is to call fouls. Yeah, that's true.
It was all right. They were playing some defense both sides and very physical in the paint, trying to establish themselves that way. But like what stood out to me was Duke's rebounding. They out-rebounded Virginia Tech by 18 and this Saturday they got out-rebounded by Clemson by nine.
So that's a pretty dramatic shift and it showed the toughness that Duke had to show to go to secure those rebounds, get in position, do it without fouling as much as they could, which was not always easy, but they got it done. Steve Wiseman is joining us. He's on his way back from Blacksburg.
So who knows, in the mountains, anything could happen here. Ten and two on the wheel, Steve. All right, Jeremy Roach did not really look hobbled.
He's certainly not a hundred percent. Roach, four of five from three-point range. My favorite Jeremy Roach moment, though, was right before the end of the first half where he not only on his second attempt hit a three, but then patted Virginia Tech's defender on the derriere as he walked off the court. My favorite moment of the game. He shot a little flare there, didn't he? That was something else. And then just some boos from the Virginia Tech fans, actually. Sure. Of course, that's what it's all about, right?
This is good stuff. But that ended up being, and John Shutter said it, you know, probably to play the game, he thought, because Duke was up by 11 and Virginia Tech had it down to three. And Roach missed a three. Charles Stewart kept their greed out alive to flip it out to Roach, who hit that shot as the buzzer sounded.
So to make it six. It's a big difference when you go to locker room and feel like that than the other way. So, yes, Roach looked more like himself last night than much more than he did Saturday, just two nights earlier. And again, as Shutter said at the game, Roach has not practiced yet. He'll start practicing again tomorrow in the second race for USC. But he, as a senior captain, wanted to be on the court. He had to talk Shutter in, let me play on Saturday off the bench because he wasn't going to play him as a Saturday morning.
And he just wanted to be there. See, I told you about the relationship, which is what you want to see. Steve Wiseman joining us here on his way back from Blacksburg covers the Blue Devils for the News and Observer.
How do they set up? I don't look the matchups not great against North Carolina, because UNC maybe at the beginning of the season, it was not as noticeable, but they look like they're getting back to their dominant rebounding ways. They are.
That is going to be a tough. I mean, regardless of what happened last night, you know, I was looking at that game thinking, you know, Carolina's at least 10 points better than Duke right now. And I don't think that's true. So they don't prove it wrong. They will be right.
You never know. Right. But just from what I've seen of two teams, Carolina really asserts itself on the opposition. And they have a gear they can get to that nobody else's league can get to.
Yes, this year. They've shown that the way they they beat Wake Forest was a tight game at half. And then they just shifted up and they were gone. It was a blowout. And they have that ability to do that. We're going to be hard for Duke at this game because they're just those three guards. They're nationally at a disadvantage, but they need big games from Milpowski and Mark Mitchell and Ryan Young to have to contribute without getting a foul trouble.
They're not trying to get a foul trouble. Right. That's always the battle inside. She can manage that best.
I don't know. That's going to be hard for Duke. Who stays in front?
And we'll we'll close on this as we'll let you negotiate the roads back from Blacksburg. Who stays in front of R.J. Davis? Because Duke had trouble staying in front of Padula last night.
Who stays in front of R.J. Davis? Yeah, Tyrese Croctor, I think, is that get that assignment 6-5 is pretty long. And he was handling Couture last night.
Couture only attempted four three quarters. Did a great job on it. Right.
So I think he'll be the guy on R.J. Well, that would be a great battle within the battle. All right. Steve Wiseman, news and observer coming back from Blacksburg. Stay on the road, my friend. I appreciate your time. You too, baby. I got it.
I said, look, come anybody that's ever driven to that part of Virginia. Oh, yeah. I mean, it's brutal. It can be.
It can be hairy, especially so. Especially at night, even though it's not nighttime now. No, it's not night. You scared me. I'm just saying, as someone who's driven at night.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-02-11 22:35:44 / 2024-02-11 22:38:31 / 3
